For many of us, Medicine 4 the People is already the soundtrack to the Village Building Convergence (and HOWL too.) Medicine 4 The People knows how to bring good vibes and love to all the parties. Also, they represent Portland culture! Here is a link to the studio-recorded version of Ghosts Embodied and other songs from their website. If we get recommendations for other songs by Medicine 4 the People, we will ask them about using these when they come back to town, which is soon we hear.

“It’s like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder how I keep from going under…” The Message is a classic about city life stressing the hell out of people. Yo our cities are so messed up, “I swear I might hijack a plane!” And it was one of the earliest hip hop songs. It would be really relevant to use it with our message of urban permaculture and City Repair. The instrumental has been re-used a lot, and still sounds fresh! (It’s gotten fresher with the more compressive version from Ice Cube, then slower and choppier with the version from Puff Daddy & Mase.)

If I Ruled The World is a song of freedom from the point of view of our imagination, especially from imagining how things could be better when you live in the projects. The sky is the limit, and that’s what we are saying as well in Village Alchemy. NAS’s lyrics on this are best in the middle verse. There is a part in Lauryn Hill’s chorus where she sings, “And then we’ll walk right up to the sun, hand in hand….”

I love these guys. Andhim is two-person DJ duo from Germany who make tech-house music. I (Joe) have contacted them before, not about this project, and it seems likely they would be down to have their music in our film project. Their music in the past benefited an African childen’s choir. Holger der Polka would be excellent since this track is not so bouncy (i.e. too bouncy will distract from the film’s content) and it has an uplifting vibe. This track (as well as Like a Wirsing, Bermudachords or Afrikadelle) is minimal-ish, so it wouldn’t drown out the sound of people talking.

Like Philip Glass, Steve Reich is a contemporary minimalist composer. I have been checking out the music from his website, and there is a lot of it! The drumming music is minimal and also has just the right amount of melody and tone to fit. The marimbas are used in a very percussive way which is pretty rad! I especially like part 2 of the drumming sequences from the Drumming album.

Jane from Planet Repair Institute brought this up the other day. “What was the song that kept saying spoon, spoon?” We were playing this while the Permaculture Design Course participants started the Food Forest project on SE 11th and Sherrett. Spoon has a good build-up vibe to it, and because of the low-pitched melody it’s also good for the soundtrack. The instrumental version is on the Audiences Listening album.

Triumph is another good hip hop song with a hot instrumental track. The theme of the song is the Wu Tang killer bees taking New York City by storm at the end of the world! Probably it’s a metaphor for the war with Babylon/end of civilization. Village Alchemy is not about killer bees or global warming, per se… but I like this instrumental a lot. The beat is terror-ific and steady. It’s as if we see the goal ahead of us and pacing ourselves to victory.

WARNING: graphic content. This video was originally banned from YouTube believe it or not – for being too graphic. So don’t watch the music video if you’re squeamish.

M.I.A. is awesome. If you don’t know her music check it out. Jumping through record label hoops wouldn’t be as much fun. Maybe there is a good remix of the song, since one problem with the original is that it’s heavy on the drums. From a soundtrack-perspective what’s good is that the vocals are not very “bright” sounding, and so you wouldn’t be confused if you heard someone talking over this song. (Born Free might be better in a montage, however.) The lyrics start out this way:

“Yeah, man made power stood like a tower,

Higher and higher hello,

And the higher you go, the lower you feel, oh”

This next one is off the wishlist, since this wish has already been granted!

Gabrielle Roth & The Mirrors.

Gabrielle Roth and Raven Recordings were very kind to give us access to their songs for use in Village Alchemy. We are finding uses for several of them already. Their music has a connection to the earth and the ancestral past. Songs to contemplate are:

Chaos also from Endless Wave. This song has such a great rhythm to it. We could use the version without the voice over.

Eternal Dance from the Totem album. This would go well with an introductory sequence, perhaps in the beginning. Or a sequence that shows some kind of preparation, as when we are getting ready for the Village Building Convergence.

Zone VI from Totem or Tsunami. This one goes very well with one of these “way-seeing” moments we can’t wait to show you. This one is Mark Lakeman talking about “reclaiming the cycle of time.”

Feel free to comment on this post with suggestions for other Gabrielle Roth & The Mirrors music.

Many great options to consider. These soundtrack ideas are being brought up now so we can work on the paperwork and copyrights. Many of us know about local Portland musicians too who would love to be included in a soundtrack like this one. Instrumental versions are preferable to lyrical ones for a soundtrack. Lyrics are great if the content is relevant. You can see why we would not want to use too much lyrical content in a documentary project. Village Alchemy is presenting breakthrough ideas in urban and social permaculture which up till now has not been touched by film media. There is a lot to say :)

Thanks to everyone for participating to make this project fun and useful!